Day 5-10

Day 5 was our big ride and I will admit I was a little anxious to be heading out with the boys, I hadn't gone over 100km in a long while and I was hoping I wouldn't be dropped off the back, because the amount of heckling after that would be too much! I couldn't get comfortable for the first bit, not sure what it was but I was fidgety. We stopped for a break and then Simon told me to start riding, they would catch me. Great, I felt crummy and I had to ride knowing 4 boys were chasing me down. I worked hard and was happy that they didn't catch me, but they probably waited a bit to long for that. The first 45km of the ride I felt pretty bad, was just feeling off. We got onto the Van Fleet Trail and the boys needed to stop for a pit stop. Simon had said that the trail went on for 40km and that we would stop at the end for fluids and snacks so I kept going while they stopped. It was a beautifully flat trail that was so great to ride on, there were turtles everywhere, they were awesome. We stopped at the one bridge to check out the gator.

The rest of the ride went pretty well, we topped up fluids and met some interesting locals, wow Florida really has some rednecks! I was feeling pretty good and the way back on this ride I held my own with the boys and I was feeling pretty strong. We ended up doing 156km in 5 hours and rewarded ourselves with nice cold beer. I headed over to the VV pool and did a 3000yd swim and the body felt good, I guess my nutrition on the bike worked as I had no cramping. After that we all headed out for dinner, I was dying for a steak and was not disappointed. It was perfect! That night a bunch of people stayed up and had a few beverages since it was rest day the next day. I will admit I had one or two to many, but they tasted good and it was nice to hang out with people and listen to music and just have fun.
Day 6
Not a lot of sleep that night and I was up early and headed off to the pool to swim. I really wanted to get back over to the NTC and although I did not feel like getting in to swim, it still turned out to be a good workout. We did a set that was on pace times and try as I might to get out of doing it, I had made the mistake of coming up with the workout and pace times the day before and then couldn't get out of doing it. The NTC was beautiful and there was only a few of us swimming, it was perfect. After headed to get a coffee and just sat around for a bit recovering. Was feeling the need for a nap but it was hard to get myself moving again. The rest of the day off I spent working with a few of the coaches up at the VV pool and then we had "Special " Olympic Games, which were highly entertaining but a little much with the given heat. It is fun to watch grown adults behave like high school kids, lol!
I went to bed early that night and slept pretty darn good.
Day 7 we all headed to Lake Louisa State Park for a brick workout. I had decided that I wasn't going to be doing the brick workout as I have no need to have a quick transition so I just decided to do loops of the park on my bike and then maybe a run while I was waiting for the open water swim. I was feeling a little on the dehydrated side but still worked hard on the bike, but I will admit I cut a lap out and then instead of running 10km only did 5km, in my defense, I wasn't sandbagging, it was hot and I had forgotten my hat, I know I know, I am a slacker what can I say, lol. It was a good workout, maybe not a long workout but yes I am still training for UMC!
The open water swim session was ok other than the fact that the water was so shallow that all they really could do was dolphin dives and very limited swimming. It was still good and I was able to give some tips on wetsuits and sighting etc. Went back and did a swim at VV pool and was feeling really smooth in the water and then went to an aero dynamics talk by Bob which was pretty interesting!
Day 8 we headed to the orange groves for our run. It was hot already at 8am and I was really looking forward to this run. Today was the hottest day so far here but it was still early. I ended up doing this run with Steve and Dwayne and for the most part this run was at a comfortable pace, I never felt like I was running hard, just the heat was really getting to me. I couldn't believe how hot it was. The first half seemed pretty easy but then the second half I was starting to get annoyed at how many hills there were. I was drinking from my bottle every 2km and it didn't seem like the boys needed anything. At one point I felt like I had goose bumps but when I looked down I didn't see any, it happened again and I realized I was either really dehydrated or getting heat exhaustion or something. I stopped to walk and Steve walked with me, Dwayne kept going saying we would catch him. I so wanted to just sit down and not run anymore but seeing how there was no shade I knew that wasn't an option. I got going again and Steve was really encouraging, we ended up passing Dwayne and all I could think about was the pool, ice, a giant fan, anything that was cold, lol. I ended up finishing the run and feeling really great but man that humidity kicked my butt!! It was a great run and so nice to push hard. We headed up to the bike shop and to this little sub place owned by firemen, which was pretty cool. I spent the afternoon working at the pool with all the athletes, I think I was able to make some big changes for a good handful of the athletes so that was awesome. I eventually got in to do a swim and to be honest my motivation level was pretty low, I think I had gotten to much sun that day. Headed out to find something to eat and found this little Mexican restaurant, it was great but I think I nearly drowned in the margarita glass, one drink and I didn't know if I would be able to walk back!
Day 9 was the last bike ride. We had a few more people come and ride with us and I knew we were going to be doing a challenging ride. Unfortunately I didn't have a great start to the ride, I grabbed my brakes a little to hard to keep from hitting another persons tire as we were stopping and down I went. I was told I looked graceful as I went down so I guess that is the plus side. I think I put my hand out and landed but not sure it really did happen so fast. Luckily I didn't get all cut up or rip my shorts or anything like that. The bike has a few minor scratches on it and really only my pride took a big blow. I got right back up and kept going but my left wrist and elbow were pretty sore. I stayed tough on the ride and felt really strong, but it hurt a lot to hold onto the bars with my left hand. We ended up doing the steep side of Sugarloaf twice on this ride and I loved every second of it. I felt so much stronger climbing it on this ride and wasn't nearly as winded. Plus I was able to take extra rest at the top while waiting for the rest of the riders, which was just some nice alone time. We also did a section that Simon had referred to as the Dragon, man was this road awesome. Just hill after hill, it was so challenging but I felt strong and pushed hard. We took a break and I had Sheri look at my wrist and elbow, she was pretty sure it wasn't a joint so that was good, but it was hurting me and I was trying to not let on how much it hurt. Finished up the ride with another close call, a southern driver not paying attention and almost turned right into me, I managed to go off road into the grass and just missed getting taken out, my heart was racing, I was screaming and Ed and Dwayne who were behind me were screaming too. I pulled in to VV and realized that I had almost been killed, it made me feel a little sick. Ed was heading out to do extra riding but I decided I had 2 mishaps already today that I didn't want to push my luck, lol. I put some ice on the elbow and took some advil and just really wanted to get some sleep but I had to head to the pool and work on the athletes. I had almost everyone come up to get some stroke correction and at the end I jumped in to see how the arm would work, unfortunately it didn't. I couldn't pull at all. I was so ticked off and I felt stupid for having such a dumb crash. Len looked at the arm and said for me to give it 4 days and that it would be better, but still I had wanted to swim every day and had done so and then the last day, well I did 200m of kicking but I am counting it!
We had a final night of drinks while sitting around the oval table, it really was a great night and I had lots of fun!
Day 10, woke up early once again with not a whole lot of sleep and had to get the car packed. My elbow was still pretty sore and straightening it hurt the worst. Didn't head out for any workouts but got everything ready for the ride. We said our goodbyes and Simon loaded our bikes for us! We were on our way by a little after 9am. We were all a little more sun tanned, fit and tired on the way home but we still had a great time.